Dental Implants: Resurrect Your Lost Teeth

Everyone aren’t gifted with perfect oral health, and that is (no) thanks to our tendency to ignore dental issues because we usually dismiss these problems as trivial, especially when our jobs are not highly dependent on looks. Because of this, problems like plaque buildup give rise to worse problems, which might lead to the doom of our teeth, aka teeth extraction. That is seriously not a good thing. Who wants a blank space on their gums and inconveniencing themselves in eating, aside from dropping your self-esteem? Thanks to science, however, we have found a way to go around this issue.

A dental implant is an artificial tooth root placed into the jaw to hold a replacement tooth or bridge (American Academy of Periodontology). Although they are only alternatives to the traditional dentures and other methods, dental implants are the preferred way of putting replacement teeth since it generally makes the replacement teeth stronger and more firmly attached to the gums compared to other treatments.

There are prerequisites, however, in getting yourself dental implants, so hold your horses. First off, dental implants are connected with your gum tissues and the bone that supports the mouth, therefore periodontists, dental experts who specialize in the things surrounding your teeth, must first make sure that the bone where these implants will be attached is strong and dense enough to support the implants. If they are found to be insufficient, preliminary operations like ridge modification and sinus augmentation might be necessary before proceeding with the implants.

There are two general types of dental implants, each more practical for use in specific situations compared to the others.

Endosteal dental implants are the most common, where the dental implants are inserted into the bone, with a post protruding on the surface to hold the replacement tooth crown. They usually take the form of screws that pierce the bone, with its design emulating a natural tooth’s root. The procedure usually lasts for months, since the bone around the implant must integrate first with the implant to ensure a good hold .

Subperiosteal dental implants are usually recommended to patients with low bone density. These implants, unlike endosteal implants, require the attachment of a metal framework just over the bone and under the gum tissue, and posts protrude through the gum where the dental crowns are attached. Usually, these frameworks are spread over a large area, thus they are usually used when there are multiple teeth to be replaced. A third type, transosteal implants, combines the endosteal and subperiosteal implant features.

Technology has advanced really well in our world, serving our inconveniences one by one. Implants are only one of the these technologies that has greatly helped us humans in our pursuit of a better physical image and ease in activities relating to the mouth. Beyond the attachment of these implants, we should promise ourselves to take better care of our teeth to avoid getting these procedures again. No one really wants to have all their teeth exchanged for fake replacements, right?